{"id":723260,"date":"2023-10-06T07:04:26","date_gmt":"2023-10-06T05:04:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=723260"},"modified":"2023-10-06T07:05:38","modified_gmt":"2023-10-06T05:05:38","slug":"to-be-human-first-you-have-to-be-human-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/industry-news\/723260\/to-be-human-first-you-have-to-be-human-first\/","title":{"rendered":"To be human first, you have to be human, first"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>By Paul Lotter, Head: People and Culture, Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB)<br>at Standard Bank Group.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Standard Bank CIB has been on a journey to foster an environment where people can show up as themselves: be fully engaged, feel like they belong and bring their authentic selves to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/corporateandinvestment.standardbank.com\/cib\/global\/insights\/human-first?cid=EP_1BZDe\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Click here to learn more about our employees\u2019 experience of our \u2018Human First\u2019 philosophy<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>We believe in the power of this human-centred approach and the positive impact of this on our long-term success and sustainability. We call this being \u2018Human First\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Listening to our people<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Our \u2019Human First\u2019 philosophy is at the heart of the decisions we make and the way we do things within CIB, and our journey continues to evolve. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the promises we make is to find new ways to support our people with what they need to thrive and to make their dreams possible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This involves truly listening to our people to understand what inspires them, and what they aspire to, both personally and professionally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our human-centred approach stood us in good stead during the COVID-19 pandemic and helped us transition to working-from-home while still prioritising our people\u2019s wellbeing during this time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the major outcomes of this work in the post-pandemic hybrid era has been that our people feel more comfortable being vulnerable \u2013 more human. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our teams are better able to connect with each other and show greater care, empathy and respect for one another due to focused initiatives that help our people better understand themselves and their personal values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is as important for us as it is for our engagements with our clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Safe spaces<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>A key focus for us on this journey has been to deliberately create opportunities and environments where it\u2019s safe for our people to speak up and share their views. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We continuously offer our leaders access to world-class leadership and coaching programmes that equip them to listen with curiosity, invite feedback and facilitate emotive conversations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\u2019ve seen a positive shift within CIB and our people feel more comfortable to open up outside structured forums. This is key for the wellbeing of our people, our teams and our organisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Igniting head, heart and soul<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>We speak of \u2018igniting head, heart and soul\u2019 as part of our \u2018Human First\u2019 philosophy. The \u2018head\u2019 element speaks to energising our people through what can be achieved when they\u2019re part of our team \u2013 the difference they can make in our communities and our continent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We support our people in unleashing their full potential, and surround them with equally passionate people to collaborate with to solve difficult challenges that we face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2018Heart\u2019 is a reminder of our shared humanity. As a father, husband and brother myself, I know the ups and downs that life can throw our way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We offer our people tools to support them at all stages of life. For example, we offer life coaching to all our people, no matter their role, to help them realise the things they personally need to thrive in life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2018Thrive\u2019 is an important word: we often talk about high-performing teams in challenging environments, and we\u2019re committed to building ways to help our people sustain their productivity, energy, and commitment so that they don\u2019t burn out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The \u2019soul\u2019 aspect is that feeling of being part of something bigger than ourselves. In line with our purpose of driving Africa\u2019s growth, we want our people to feel and know that they\u2019re not just doing a job when they come to work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our organisation and our work enable amazing transformations in our communities, countries, and the entire continent. That\u2019s great for the soul, at work, and at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The journey continues<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>There\u2019s no final destination on our \u2018Human First\u2019 journey \u2013 we are committed to continuously progressing as we learn and grow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We know that we\u2019re not yet where we want to be and will continue working to honour our promise to our people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We are also excited to see the external expression of our \u2018Human First\u2019 philosophy, with our people empathetically engaging with our clients as their best, authentic selves; fully committed to making a difference to every client they serve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/corporateandinvestment.standardbank.com\/cib\/global\/insights\/human-first?cid=EP_1BZDe\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Click here to learn more about our employees\u2019 experience of our \u2018Human First\u2019 philosophy<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Standard Bank is an authorised financial services and registered credit provider (NCRCP15). The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited (Reg. No. 1962\/000738\/06).<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Standard Bank CIB has been on a journey to foster an environment where people can show up as themselves: be fully engaged, feel like they belong and bring their authentic selves to work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":723264,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10459],"tags":[499],"class_list":["post-723260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-news","tag-standard-bank"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=723260"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":723296,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723260\/revisions\/723296"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/723264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=723260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=723260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=723260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}